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What are the 20 worst paying jobs for women in the US?

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 24/7 Wall Street reviewed female weekly earnings as a percentage of male weekly earnings in full-time wage and salary occupations to identify the 20 worst paying jobs for women.

What are the 20 worst paying jobs for women in the US?

From sales jobs to EMTs, these gigs have the worst gender pay gap.
USA TODAY

Gender equality has taken a more central role in the American political and cultural discourse in recent years. One of the chief targets in the fight for gender equality is the gender pay gap. Even today, women in the United States earn an average of just 82 cents for every dollar men earn. In some […](Photo: Viktor_Gladkov / iStock)

Gender equality has taken a more central role in the American political and cultural discourse in recent years. One of the chief targets in the fight for gender equality is the gender pay gap. Even today, women in the United States earn an average of just 82 cents for every dollar men earn. In some jobs, the wage gap is far larger.

Though some prominent politicians have made addressing the apparent injustice a central piece of their policy agenda — including President Barack Obama and his 2009 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — pay inequality has remained effectively unchanged in the past decade.

Pay figures alone do not tell the whole story, and there are several explanations for pay inequality that are not immediately obvious. Such factors include the propensity for men to work longer hours and sort into higher paid positions within certain occupational categories. Still, even when adjusting for such circumstantial factors, an apparent gender bias in the U.S. labor market remains.

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 24/7 Wall Street reviewed female weekly earnings as a percentage of male weekly earnings in full-time wage and salary occupations to identify the 20 worst paying jobs for women. The jobs on this list span multiple industries, and in many of them women comprise the majority of workers.

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20. Training and development specialists

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 74.7 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $937

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,255

No. of workers: 114,000 (48.2 percent women)

Training and development specialists primarily plan and administer programs to educate and train employees. Women comprise just under half of the 114,000 Americans working in the occupation. While gender distribution is equal among training and developmental specialists, pay is not. The median annual salary for women in the job is $48,724, well below the the typical salary of $65,260 for men in the occupation. The 75 cents on the dollar women in the profession earn is far worse than the pay gap across all occupations of 82 cents on the dollar.

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19. Retail salespersons

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 74.3 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $523

Men’s median weekly earnings: $704

No. of workers: 1,896,000 (38.8 percent women)

Retail sales covers a wide range of sales jobs, from automotive to apparel, and as a result are one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable professions in the country. Currently, some 1.9 million Americans work in retail sales, 38.8 percent of whom are women. The occupation also has one of the largest gender pay gaps of any profession. Women working in retail sales earn just 74 cents for every dollar men in the occupation earn.

Because the occupation includes many different jobs -- with wide range of earning potential -- the pay gap may be partially the result of men being more drawn to those retail jobs that pay more.

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18. Diagnostic related technologists and technicians

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 74.1 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $1,041

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,404

No. of workers: 271,000 (68.6 percent women)

Some of the jobs with the worst gender pay gaps are dominated by women, and diagnostic related technologists and technicians is one of them. Jobs in the field typically involve operating and maintaining advanced hospital equipment like x-ray machines. While women make up 44.4 percent of the overall U.S. workforce, more than two-thirds of all diagnostic related technologists and technicians are female. The typical woman in the occupation earns $54,132 annually, while the median salary for men in the same line of work is $73,008.

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17. Marketing and sales managers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 73.7 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $1,288

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,747

No. of workers: 994,000 (43.1 percent women)

Sales and marketing managers are responsible for setting sales goals and planning and coordinating marketing initiatives. These jobs are much higher paying for men than they are for women. The estimated median annual earnings for the 428,000 women working these jobs full-time nationwide is $66,976. Meanwhile, the median annual income for men in the occupation is $90,844. Marketing sales managers require skill sets from both sales and management fields, two professions that often have especially wide gender pay gaps.

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16. Human resources managers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 73.2 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $1,280

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,748

No. of workers: 304,000 (69.4 percent women)

Nearly 70 percent of human resource managers are women. Despite being dominated by women, the job has one of the largest gender pay gaps of any occupation in the United States. The typical female human resource manager earns less than three-quarters the wage of the typical male in the same job.

In recent years, men in the profession have made greater wage gains than women. Since 2008, the median salary for men working as human resource managers climbed 22.0 percent compared to a 12.6 percent increase among women.

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15. Designers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 73.1 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $857

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,172

No. of workers: 600,000 (45.5 percent women)

Designers working the arts and entertainment sector report one the largest gender pay gaps of any job in the U.S. labor market. The occupation includes graphic designers, set designers, and fashion designers. The typical woman working as a designer earns $44,564 a year, just 73 percent of the median income of $60,944 among men in the profession. Across all occupations, the typical woman earns about 82 percent of the typical man.

While the wage gap is far worse for designers than it is in most jobs, employment composition closely matches the average across all jobs. Some 45.5 percent of American designers are women, in line with the 44.4 percent of women in the workforce as a whole.

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14. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 73.0 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $589

Men’s median weekly earnings: $807

No. of workers: 2,828,000 (4.9 percent women)

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers pick up, transport, and drop off packages and shipments, and fewer than 5 percent of all workers in the occupation are female. One of the most male dominated occupations in the country, it also has one with the worst gender pay gaps. Female drivers typically earn just 73 percent of what their male counterparts earn, far worse than the 82 percent pay gap across all occupations.

The wage gap in the profession has added implications as the job is low paying to begin with. The median annual income for female drivers is just $30,628, compared to $41,964 men earn and the median income across all jobs of $44,720.

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13. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 72.7 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $453

Men’s median weekly earnings: $623

No. of workers: 362,000 (14.9 percent women)

Only about 15 percent of all taxi drivers and chauffeurs in the United States are women, well below the 44.4 percent share of women across all occupations. Women who work as taxi drivers and chauffeurs are paid far less than men in the same job. The typical female taxi driver earns just $23,556 a year, about $9,000 less than the median income for male taxi drivers.

A recent study conducted jointly between Stanford University and the University of Chicago found that much of the gender pay gap among Uber drivers is attributable to the fact that men drive 2.2 percent faster on average than female drivers.

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12. Other teachers and instructors

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 72.7 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $820

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,128

No. of workers: 419,000 (63.2 percent women)

Other teachers include support occupations for primary and secondary school teachers as well as specialized school instructors. Though 63.2 percent of people in the profession are women, they are paid far less than men in the same job. The typical female in the occupation earns an estimated $42,640 a year, about $16,000 less than the typical male in the profession. Because the other teachers category is a catch all designation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more men might be drawn to higher paying jobs within the occupational category, which would partly explain the wage gap.

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11. Credit counselors and loan officers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 71.9 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $958

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,332

No. of workers: 320,000 (60.3 percent women)

Credit counselors and loan officers evaluate loan applications and advise on debt management and debt acquisition for businesses and individuals. On an annual basis, the typical male working in the field earns an estimated $69,264 a year. Meanwhile, the estimated median annual pay for women is only $49,816.

Unequal pay in the financial industry may be a more serious problem than in other sectors. Credit counselors and loan officers are one of several finance-related occupations with a near nation-leading gender pay gap.

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10. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 71.7 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $639

Men’s median weekly earnings: $891

No. of workers: 2,388,000 (42.4 percent women)

First-line supervisors of retail sales workers typically oversee sales workers in a given store or department and often manage budgets and inventory. More often than not, men in such jobs earn far more than women. The median annual salary for men is in the position is an estimated $46,332, about $13,000 more than the median annual salary for women in the same occupational category.

The gender pay gap in the occupation only appears to be widening. In the last year alone, the weekly wage of male retail supervisors climbed 4.0 percent, a far greater increase than 1.4 percent uptick among women in the same job.

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9. First-line supervisors of production and operating workers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 71.1 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $716

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,007

No. of workers: 722,000 (18.4 percent women)

First-line supervisors of production and operating workers typically supervise various stages of production in a manufacturing facility. Examples of job titles in the occupational designation include production manager and shift supervisor. A male dominated occupation, just 18.4 percent of all production and operation supervisors are female. Not only are women less likely than men to have a job in the field, but also they are far more likely to be underpaid. The typical woman working as a first-line supervisor in manufacturing earns an estimated $37,232 a year, well below the median salary of $50,232 for both men and women in the job.

(Photo: Szepy / iStock)

8. Financial managers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 71.1 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $1,222

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,719

No. of workers: 1,111,000 (55.0 percent women)

A March 2017 paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that at firms in the financial services sector, which disproportionately employs male workers, women were more likely to face gender discrimination. Of all financial managers, slightly more than half are women. Yet women in the occupation still earn significantly less than their male peers.

The NBER study also found that following an incidence of misconduct, females in the financial advisory industry face harsher punishments than males despite lower likelihood of repeat offenses. Such incidents were also found to be less costly than those involving male employees.

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7. Real estate brokers and sales agents

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 70.6 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $818

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,159

No. of workers: 488,000 (55.1 percent women)

Just over half of all real estate brokers in the United States are women. The higher proportion of women in the occupation has not eliminated the gender pay gap, however. The typical female real estate agent earns only 71 cents for every dollar the typical male real estate agent earns.

According to a study conducted by CREW Network, a group working to advance the achievements of women in commercial real estate, women working in the industry frequently cite gender discrimination and family constraints among the top barriers to professional advancement.

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6. First-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 68.8 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $515

Men’s median weekly earnings: $749

No. of workers: 190,000 (40.5 percent women)

First-line supervisors of housekeeping and janitorial workers oversee cleaning staff in any number of facilities, including hotels, hospitals, and offices. Though women comprise 84.3 percent of all maids and housekeepers in the United States, they comprise just 40.5 percent of supervisor roles. The job also has one the largest income gaps between men and women in the country. The typical female supervisor of a janitorial or housekeeping staff earns an estimated $26,780 a year, or about 69 percent of the $38,948 a male in the occupation earns annually.

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5. Sales representatives, services, all other

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 67.7 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $902

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,332

No. of workers: 458,000 (26.2 percent women)

Sales representative, services, all other is a category that encompasses miscellaneous sale-related jobs. According to the BLS, such occupations include energy brokers, and other sales representatives working in the telecommunications, scientific research, and financial services industries. Like many of the occupations with the widest gender pay gaps, sales representatives, including women, are relatively well paid. But while the median weekly wage for women in the occupation of $902 is above the average wage for women in all occupations, it is equal to just 67.7 percent of the $1,332 weekly median income for men in the same job.

Women occupy relatively few of these jobs. Of the 458,000 Americans working in the field, just over one-quarter are women.

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4. Emergency medical technicians and paramedics

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 65.5 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $733

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,119

No. of workers: 203,000 (28.6 percent women)

Emergency medical technicians and paramedics take care of the sick and injured in emergency situations and in transit to medical facilities. Often dealing with matters of life and death, the job requires empathy and high tolerance for stress. Far fewer women work as EMT and paramedics than is typical across all occupations. Just 28.6 percent of the 203,000 workers in the occupation nationwide are female. Additionally, women working in the profession earn only about two-thirds of what men in the profession make, one of the largest pay gaps of any occupation.

(Photo: Thinkstock)

3. Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 64.3 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $911

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,416

No. of workers: 231,000 (33.3 percent women)

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents typically advise clients on investments and mediate the buying and selling of stocks and other securities. A male dominated occupation, only one-third of all workers in the occupation are women. Women also earn just 64 cents for every dollar men in the profession earn. The median annual income for women in securities, commodities, and financial services sales is just $47,372, while the typical man earns $73,632 a year.

Though the occupation has one of the worst gender pay gaps in the country, the gap is considerably improved from a decade ago. Since 2008, wages for women in the occupation have climbed by 19.9 percent, a faster clip than the comparable 11.3 percent increase for men.

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2. Administrative services managers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 62.2 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $1,013

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,629

No. of workers: 147,000 (38.8 percent women)

Administrative service managers are typically responsible for planning and coordinating the administrative needs of their organization. This can include facilities maintenance, mail distribution, budget preparation, and records management. Over the last decade, the salaries of men working in the occupation increased by 61 percent, the largest increase of any job in the country. For women, the increase was far lower, as overall, wages in the occupation increased by only 22.9 percent over the same period. Partly as a result, the job has one of the largest gender wage gaps in the country. Women earn just 62 cents for every dollar men in the position earn.

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1. Personal financial advisers

Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 58.9 percent

Women’s median weekly earnings: $979

Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,662

No. of workers: 398,000 (32.9 percent women)

No job has a wider pay discrepancy between men and women than personal financial advisers -- even as wages for women in the occupation increased and wages for men decreased in the last year. The typical female financial adviser earns less than $1,000 a week compared to the median weekly wage for men in the occupation of $1,662.

A March 2017 paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that following an incidence of misconduct, females in the financial advisory industry tend to face harsher punishments and are less likely to find new jobs compared to male employees. Researchers also found evidence that despite the harsher punishments, incidents involving women were on average less costly, and women were less likely than men to repeat offenses. The discrimination was found to be greater at firms with greater shares of male workers compared to female workers. Across the United States, just 32.9 percent of personal financial advisors are women, well below the 44.4 percent share of women working full-time across all occupations.

Detailed findings

The majority of the jobs with the largest gender pay gaps are male dominated. Across all occupations, women account for 44.4 percent of the workforce. In 12 of the 20 jobs with the largest pay gaps, women make up a smaller share. In 14 jobs on this list men are the majority.

Occupations with even distributions of men and women, or even in which women comprise the majority, are by no means immune to relatively large gender pay gaps. Further, increasing female representation in the workplace does not translate to more equitable pay. In four of the jobs with the greatest income inequality, over 60 percent of the workforce is female. For example, 69.4 percent of human resource managers are female. Still, the typical woman working in the occupation earns just 73 cents for every dollar her male counterpart earns.

While the pay gap is certainly to a large extent the result of gender bias, there are other causes that contribute to the gap. One explanation is that men and women tend to gravitate to different jobs, at different pay levels, within an occupational designation. Of course, this too may have deep roots in years of gender bias and enduring traditional roles today.

For example, within the broad BLS designation of legal occupations, women earn just 63 cents for every dollar men earn. While glaring on its face, in many common legal professions the gap is smaller. Female lawyers, for example, earn 83 cents on the dollar, slightly better than the average across all occupations.

The larger 63 percent gender pay discrepancy across all legal occupations is largely explained by the much greater share of women working in the lower-paying legal jobs such as paralegals. More than 80 percent of all paralegals, a relatively low paying assistant position, are female. Meanwhile, men are far more likely than women to be lawyers -- a much higher paying profession.

Differences between men and women in average hours worked per week also partially explain the gender pay gap. According to a recent poll by Gallup, men with full-time jobs are far more likely to work more than 40 hours per week than women.

More time in the office is not to say women do not work as much as men. Women are far more likely than men to spend more time on unpaid domestic labor, such as child rearing and household chores. So while the gender pay gap may not always be explained by overt sexism, prevailing social norms surrounding gender still have an impact.

Methodology

To identify the worst paying jobs for women, 24/7 Wall St. looked at the difference in median weekly wages between men and women in 150 full-time occupations from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS), a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) program. The worst paying jobs for women were the full-time occupations with the highest disparity between male and female weekly wages. Total employment, male and female employment, employment projections from 2016 to 2026, and education requirements also came from the BLS. Percent changes in median weekly wages from 2008 to 2017 were calculated using data from the CPS. For employment projections and 10-year changes in median weekly wages, only jobs with consistent standard occupational codes are comparable between years. Average yearly wage estimates were calculated by multiplying average weekly wages by 52. Broad occupational categories that subsumed more precise designations were not considered.

24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.